1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to voice mail systems (VMSs) and, in one embodiment, to systems and methods for integrating softkey displays and functionality with VMSs accessible through a telephone interface.
2. Description of Related Art
In today's business environment, telephones are often sophisticated devices having display screens and a variety of buttons for enabling a user to perform a number of different functions. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, a telephone 10 may have a central LCD display 12 with buttons 14 on either side of the display 12. Two lines 16 at the top of the display 12 may be reserved as title lines, which may be used to display information such as the telephone user's name, the date, and the time.
In an example prior art system illustrated in FIG. 1, the buttons 14 adjacent to the display 12 may only be related to a telephone switch (not shown in FIG. 1) to which the telephone 10 is connected. For example, if a main menu appears on the display 12, by pushing a button 18 adjacent to text on the display 12 that reads “Internal Directory,” the display will change to the “Internal Directory” menu, and a prompt will appear on the display 12 to enter a particular user name of someone connected to the same switch. By entering a portion of the user name and pressing another button adjacent to text on the display that reads “Find,” if that portion of the user name is found, all users having that portion of the entered name will appear on the display. By pushing another button adjacent to text on the display that reads a particular person's name, that person may be called. By pushing the button adjacent to text on the display that reads “Back,” the user may be able to enter a new portion of a user name and start the “Find” process again.
The general purpose of softkeys is to enable a limited set of buttons adjacent to the display to perform different functions, depending on the operation being performed. As users traverse through different operations, softkey systems incorporated into telephone switches provide text labels on the telephone display so that the user can know what actions are available for that particular place in the system. In the example of FIG. 1, the buttons 14 are softkeys, because as the user changes from the “Main Menu” to the “Internal Directory”, the text appearing adjacent to the buttons 14 will change, and the function that will be executed by pressing a particular button 14 will be different, depending on the current menu or operation. The softkey information and text labels to be applied on the telephone display are typically stored in the telephone switch and are accessed through user communications with the switch via the telephone.
VMSs are common in today's business environment. Unlike typical simple household VMSs localized to a particular telephone line, VMSs for businesses are complex messaging systems that may be housed in one or more servers. These VMSs are capable of responding to a user's input to perform a multitude of selectable functions. When accessing such a VMS through a telephone, the use of softkeys would enable the user to quickly perform these selectable functions as the user moves from one menu or operation to another within the VMS. Thus, there exists a need for integrating softkey displays and functionality with VMSs accessible through a telephone interface.